RN Graduation!

I GRADUATED NURSING SCHOOL! 

That's right! I did it! I graduated nursing school on April 26th! All I have to do is take my state boards... once again... and I will be a Registered Nurse! I am so excited to finally be done with nursing school and to have this title! I applied for the BSN (Bachelor's of Science in Nursing) program in January and just found out that I was accepted. There were around 270 applicants and only 130 got accepted, so I am very lucky. I was not going to do this extra degree that I don't necessarily NEED... but I figured it is all online, no exams, only two semesters, and no clinicals. SUPER EASY. So I might as well get it over with. People ask me why get my BSN and what the difference is. Honestly, I am still an RN and I don't get an increase in pay. But with a Bachelor's degree you get to be picked for management positions and have a better opportunity being hired in magnet status hospitals as well. I know that once I have kids I will never go back to school, so if I can just get these two semesters over with I will literally be done with school for the rest of my life. When I start having kids or when I am older and can't/don't want to work the long 12 hour days, I will have the option to work M-F 8-5 management or some easier office position instead of being on the floor. Also, if we move out of state, most hospitals encourage a BSN. I have a friend who just moved to California who can't get a job in a long term facility (where I work currently) because they only hire LPN's (because they can do the same work but are a lot cheaper) and the hospitals only would hire an RN with a BSN... so she is out of job options because she is just an RN with her AS degree. I know this is a great decision and will be good for me to have in my future.

My mom & KC, dad & Sharon, and Grandparents on my mom's side all went in on a sewing machine for my graduation present. It is a nice brand new electronic one that is going to be awesome for me to have in our new house. I have pinned so many things on Pinterest to sew our curtains, shower curtains, and other things that I am excited to have a sewing machine for! Brad & Susie got me a heart rate monitor watch and chest strap that I have ALWAYS wanted to count my calories and monitor my HR while I am working out at home, I used it the next day and love it! Ever since I started nursing school a couple years ago, I have always told Josh that I wanted a band to go with my wedding ring that I could wear to work. We went looking for rings in March just to see a price range, and actually found the perfect ring and Kay was also having a huge blowout sale so we got an amazing deal on it! Josh had to hide it from me for the next month so I didn't wear it :)  I decided to get it sautered to my wedding ring because Josh specially designed my wedding ring without prongs so that I could easily wear it at work without it catching on my gloves or scratching my residents. Also with me getting them sautered together, I get free lifetime cleanings and rhodium platings on the rings anytime I want. It is the most beautiful ring ever!

My LPN Cohort

 My buddy Kayli.. we have been in school since the very beginning together!!

 RN Cohort

My Baby :(

I was in an accident last Thursday. Some 75 year old guy decided to run a REALLY red light. Thankfully I T-boned him instead of him smashing my passenger side where my friend, Kayli, was because we could have been seriously injured. He was going super fast, I would say maybe 50 in a 30mph zone and I was only going 20mph since I had just started going from a red light. Neither of us were injured. I am seeing a chiropractor 3x a week for a couple weeks because my hips really hurt and my ROM in my neck and shoulder from my seat belt is poor. Nobody thought they would total my brand new 2012 Mazda, but I got the call today saying that it was a  total loss. Josh and I did a bunch of research yesterday so I would know what my car was worth, how much taxes are, and how much cars like mine are selling for. We ran a bunch of numbers so the insurance wouldn't be able to low-ball me just because I was a girl. The guys insurance was Geico, which I have been told is the worst car insurance to deal with, but they actually gave us a great offer that we decided to take. He offered me retail price for my car and also added on state taxes and licensing. We are only losing about $3000, but we expected that since the car is one year old and has depreciated in value. We are so grateful that I am OK and that we got a great offer to be able to buy a new car. I am just hoping and praying this dude gets his license revoked. Obviously he should not be driving if he cannot tell a red from a green light. There were two cares ahead of me that made it completely through the intersection before I did, so it's not like I was the first one at the light and he just barely ran a red light... his light had to of been red for AT LEAST 10 second. Thankfully I had three awesome witnesses who left me all of their info. One was a guy who was at the red light the guy I hit ran, so he was able to justify that he was completely stopped at the red light while the other guy gunned it through the intersection. I am glad that all of my medical bills will be paid by him or his insurance and I got a great price for my totaled car.

My embarrassing rental I have to drive!!! Hahahahaha

We bought a house!

Well Josh and I took the big plunge and finally bought a house! It is down in Lehi right by the golf course at Thanksgiving Point. It is a townhome that was just built in 2010 and is an end unit. It has a two car garage, three bedrooms upstairs, kitchen and living room on the main floor, and a fully finished basement. There are 3 beds and 3.5 baths. We were so against getting a townhome, but we fell in love with this one and couldn't find one that was even comparable. We knew if we got a townhome we HAD to have a two car garage, fenced yard that isn't shared, everything fully finished since we don't have time to redo anything, and and end unit was a must. This house had it all! It has a small backyard that is completely fenced, so Roxy doesn't have to be caged all day while we are at work since she will now have her own doggy door. We just got the inspection done a couple weeks ago and everything is upgraded and in amazing condition. The current owners took very good care of it. We got a great deal and actually talked them down $8,000 and had them put $5,000 towards closing costs... so we basically talked them down $13,000.  We have been looking since December and weren't going to buy until next summer, but We are ecstatic to have our own place and not be stuck in a cold, dark basement anymore :) Even though we LOVE the place we are in right now. We close in a few weeks and then I can post pics of the inside.

Mom's Birthday!

For my Mom's birthday this past week, I took her to the tulip festival down at Thanksgiving Point. We have done this once before, and just love going out on a beautiful day and walking around for a few hours. The flowers were so pretty! There was also a big dance festival going on, so we sat and watched that for a while and checked out the stuff they had for sale under the big white tents. I am glad I got to spend this day with her! Happy Birthday, Mom!

Great Grandma

My Great Grandma, who just turned 94, lives in Texas with my Grandma and Grandpa on my mom's side. She suffered a heart attack a couple months ago and has been getting rehabilitation done in a rehab center like where I work. My mom went to Texas in March and I was lucky enough to get to FaceTime with my sweet Great Grandma. She is always so cheerful and positive and never thinks about herself. It saddened me to see her little face all bruised up from falling the week before. I got to watch her work with her speech therapist, as she has some aphasia due to the heart attack. I love her and miss her so much and am hoping she recovers quickly :)

Baby B's First Birthday!

Our niece, Brightyn, turns ONE today!!! I feel like she was just a tiny little chubby baby and now she is already one. She is the sweetest little thing ever and is so dang cute! She hasn't quite mastered walking yet, or doesn't want to, but she will stand in one place forever and give up and sit down. She had her first birthday party this past Saturday. I also got to babysit her for a full day and we had lots of fun! WE LOVE YOU BABY B!

 Birthday outfit from Aunt Amber and Uncle Josh

Props to Calaigh who made basically every decoration! So crafty and cute!

Valentines Day

We had yet another great Valentines Day this year! (Remember we celebrate it on Feb 7th every year) It fell on a Thursday, so Josh had to work. He had told me earlier he was planning something for the weekend, so I figured to do something for him on Thursday. When he got home from work, I had the whole kitchen lit up with candles and rose petals all over. I had grilled us some big NY strip steaks and had sparkling cider. I had never bought steak before, let alone used a grill. But I did tons of research, found an amazing deal on steak at Smith's, and actually cooked them PERFECT. They were soooo delicious.

 Doesn't that look so good!!!?

Of course he got me roses :)

On Saturday afternoon, we drove up to Park City. Josh booked us a room at the Hyatt! It was the most AMAZING hotel I have ever seen. Even nicer than our rooms on the vacations we have been on! He got a sweet employee discount that basically made us pay 1/4th of the nightly fee than it would have normally cost. He got us a queen sweet so there was a big living room with a flat screen TV, a full kitchen, washer/dryer, bathroom, master bedroom with fireplace and TV, and a master bath with a jetted tub and shower. It was probably as big as our first apartment we lived in when we got married! We decided since we were spending so much money to stay at the hotel, we might as well relish it and get take out instead of going out to eat. We got mexican food and watched a movie for dinner by the fireplace. There was a big heated pool and two jacuzzis outside, so after dinner, we went swimming. It was lightly snowing and the cold made the pools steam all over so when you were sitting in the jacuzzi, you could barely see in front of you... it was amazing! On Sunday after check out, we went to Gorgoza sledding park and bought a two hour pass and did some tubing. It was so much fun! I definitely recommend it to anyone. Afterwards, we of course had to go shopping at the outlets! 

 BEAUTIFUL! 

Sparkling cider by the fireplace ;)

 Roxy and her static...

We had an amazing Valentines Day and I hope that everyone else has one too! :)